Chikungunya: Causes, symptoms and prevention

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Chikungunya: Causes, symptoms and prevention

By -

TNN

Updated: Sep 11, 2017, 16:02 IST

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Just like the most dreaded dengue, chikungunya is also a mosquito-borne viral disease. Chikungunya is mostly not fatal but its pain can be highly traumatizing. It causes fever and very severe joint pains that can last for up to many years. The pain is debilitating and can make it difficult even to walk properly for many patients.
Many symptoms of chikungunya are similar to dengue and zika. As a result of this, it can be easily misdiagnosed in areas where both these diseases are common. If the place of your residence is close to any mosquito breeding sites, you are at a very high risk of chikungunya and other mosquito borne diseases like dengue and zika. If chikungunya is not tested at the right time, it does not even reflect in lab results.

There is exactly no cure for chikungunya, states World Health Organization, as the treatment of the disease focuses on soothing the symptoms.

Chikungunya Causes

Incidentally, both Dengue and Chikungunya are caused by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, two species that are playing havoc in the country. It is transmitted from one person to another with the bite of the female specie of the mosquito. These mosquitoes are known to typically bite during the daylight hours. During the daylight hours, the risk of getting bitten is the highest at two points of time, early morning and late afternoon. Though, typically these mosquitoes are known to bite outdoors, aedes aegypti can also bite indoors.

What are the Symptoms of Chikungunya ?

If a person is bitten by an infected mosquito, symptoms will typically occur within a period of 4 to 8 days. They may even appear after 2 days or may not appear till 12 days.

City doctors suspect that the virus has mutated, leading to much severe symptoms now than before. Typically, chikungunya will begin with an abrupt fever which is accompanied by pain in joints. The pain in the joints can be debilitating for the condition of the sufferer as it can last for a very long period of time. The viral majorly affects finger joints on hand and foot, leading to swelling and acute pain. Sadly, in some cases this pain can persist for months or years. The criticality and longevity of this pain decided if chikungunya will be acute, subacute or a chronic disease. In most of the cases, however, the patients recover.

Besides pain in the joints, some patients have also reported problems with eyes, heart and neurological as well as gastrointestinal complications. However, cases of such complains remain uncommon.

If the patient of chikungunya is an aged person, the disease can get very critical and may even contribute to the cause of death of the patient.

Many a times, symptoms in the patients of chikungunya go unrecognized. Also, they are quite often misdiagnosed especially in areas where other mosquito related diseases, like dengue, are prevalent. However, the most common signs and symptoms of chikungunya include the following:

- Flu- chills, fever, headache and aching joints - Joint pain can particularly occur in hands, wrist, ankles and feet which can last from weeks to months and can even continue for a year.
- Nausea
- Fatigue
- Rashes

Chikungunya Prevention

If the place of your residence is close to mosquito vector breeding sites, it is a very big risk factor not only for chikungunya but other mosquito borne diseases as well. In such cases, government intervention and steps to ensure minimum risk are needed. Any natural or artificial sites that contain water and support mosquito breeding need effective and frequent insecticide treatments. Flying mosquitoes should be sprayed over and insecticides should be applied to surfaces of the containers and nearby objects. Also, if the proximity of the site and any place of residence is more than it should be, the government needs to ensure that the community is moved somewhere else.

Besides steps which must be taken at the level of authorities, there are many personal steps which you must take. Here are a few tips by Dr Narendra Prasad, consultant, General Medicines, Columbia Asia Hospital, to protect yourself from Chikungunya:

- Keep yourself covered and minimize skin exposure
- Exposed skin should be protected by applying skin repellents
- Keep a check on your surroundings
- Don't let water accumulate
- Stay extra safe during daytime
- use nets to avoid mosquito bites
- Keep your surroundings clean and check for overflowing garbage bins
- Change the water in flower vessels regularly to avoid mosquito breeding
- Keep your toilet seats down when not in use
- Shower daily and use unscented shampoos. Mosquitos are believed to be attracted to smells like perfume and sweat
- Purchase mosquito repellent that contains DEET, especially if you have a balcony garden.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article should not be considered as a substitute for a physician's advice. Please consult your treating Physician for more details.

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